Virus: Origins
by iluvcats09
Summary: Draconia, daughter of Sgt. Calhoun, has an uncurable virus-she possesses dragon wings and yellow reptilian eyes, and her intelligence and perception is unnaturally acute. But when mysteries of her past-how she got this way; who her father was-surface, she finds that she may be caught up something over which she has no control. Rated T for violence and some crude language later.
1. Prologue: Secrets

**A/N: Yeah yeah, I'm starting another fanfiction when I have like, five for which people are clamoring for new chapters. BUT I have serious writer's block on those, and I thought I'd put up a quick chapter/prologue thing for this one! It literally took me ten minutes to write...I don't really take too much time on writing, I just write whatever I think of and go over it later thinking "Oh shoot, this really should have been different." **

Draconia sat on the bed and fiddled with the gold necklace in her hand, watching as light reflected off of it, dancing on the walls and reflecting off the mirror in front of her. The beauty of the piece of jewelry almost-but not quite-offset the guilt of going through her mother's things. She fingered the heart-shaped jewel at the end, tracing the thick crack that ran down its center.  
"So you found it."  
Draconia turned around at the voice behind her. It was her mother, Sergeant Tamora Calhoun, standing in the doorway, her blue eyes boring into Draconia's yellow ones. Her expression was that of concealed emotions. Draconia held up the necklace.  
"This? Yeah, what is it?" Draconia asked, holding it up to the light of the setting sun. "It's pretty. But what's with the crack? I should think-" She was cut off by a sudden change in her mother's demeanor. The normally upright, at-attention sergeant was slumped in the doorway, eyes shut, trying to hold back tears.  
"Mom-"  
"It's a Heart Container." Tamora spoke softly. "It could have worked, but it broke, I broke it. I dropped it. It won't work if you drop it." She shook her head, then opened her eyes.  
"Oh!" It seemed obvious, now that Draconia saw it. A heart container, one of the heart-shaped gems that healed all life points if absorbed. They originated from Hyrule, a place she had always wanted to visit. But her mother had never let her, and had always left the room or changed the subject when she had asked. "Hyrule is a dangerous place," she had said.  
"Oh-Mom, what's wrong?" Draconia stood and put her hand on her mom's shoulder. "You can tell me. I'm fourteen-I'm not a child-and you look like you need to get something off your chest." She led her mother to the bed, where they sat down. Tamora took the heart container in her hand, turning it around, holding it to her heart. She made a soft choked sobbing noise, and Draconia's eyes widened. Her mother was crying. She had never cried, ever. She was the sergeant in Hero's Duty. She had seen the worst that gaming had to throw at you, and she had never made a sound.  
"I-" Tamora began, then hesitated. "I think it's time I told you."  
"About what?" Draconia knew her mother had many secrets.  
"Your father. Who he really was, what really happened. Why you have those..."  
"Wings." Yes. Her wings. She had had them, vast membranous wings like a dragons in addition to yellow, reptilian eyes, since she was born. A virus that could never be removed. She couldn't even fly. Draconia's pupils contracted to slits in anxiety. Who my father is? So he wasn't from Hero's Duty-Mother would have told me already if he had been. And what happened to him... She knew her father was dead, she had for her entire life. Now she would find out how he had died.  
"Yes," Tamora said, "Your wings." She sighed, putting her head in her hands. Draconia sat and watched, wondering what would come next in this unexpected turn of events. Tamora continued.  
"Your wings, like those of the dragon we fought in Hyrule... The dragon-he hadn't always been a dragon, but I won't say his name, not now-whose lust for revenge cost your father his life."  
Hyrule... That was why she had never been there.  
And a dragon?

**A/N: So... Who _was _Draconia's father? What _did_ happen? Who _was_ that dragon-who-wasn't-a-dragon-and-who-must-not-be-named-at-this-moment-for-fear-of-spoilers? Guess in the reviews (it's really really really really really really really obvious...probably too obvious, now that I think about it) and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 1: Birth of a Monster

**A/N: Good gosh, I actually updated one of my fanfictions! Ehehehehe. **

Draconia listened as her mother began.  
_"It started fifteen years ago, with the adventure that changed Litwak's Arcade forever. Do you remember me telling you about that? About...the virus who took over Sugar Rush?"_  
Draconia remembered. She had been merely one year old at the time-but then again, she had always remembered things that her subconscious deemed important. Like the story. And, when she was two, a vague memory of a castle, a necklace, and a sense of fear. She nodded. Tamora continued.  
"_Well...I fell in love, during that whole hullabaloo. With a very...unlikely person. At first, I thought he was just obnoxious, with his constantly optimistic outlook on life and his strange, exaggerated features. Eventually, though..."  
_"Who?" Draconia asked. Her mother was beating around the bush.  
_"I found that he-Fix-it Felix Jr.-was one of the nicest men I had ever met. He was funny, clever, sweet..."  
_Tamora sighed. "I don't think I can do this," she whispered. "Just telling you about it makes the memories surface. It's as if..."  
"I know. You don't have to."  
"But I do; it's time you knew."  
"But-" Draconia's objection was cut off as her mother continued her story.  
_"Well, we were married. A year later, we had you. I first felt you coming in the middle of a game. I had a substitute, of course; the players couldn't see the main character pregnant and on the line of duty. I was sitting in a chair, in the corner of the first room. I was bored; I was reading a book. Ender's Game, I think it was. I had never read a real novel before-I had never had the time. Now I had nothing to do but sit there, or wander the Game Central Station. I remember I frequented the non-Arcade areas. Especially the cooking games. Anyway, I set down the book, feeling hungry and unable to wait until the playthrough was over to go to a different game. Then I felt it, a tensing in my muscles that made me collapse in pain. I was rushed to the Dr. Mario game-it wasn't very busy that day and its characters had time to tend to me, and its version of Mario was the only doctor around. I think I was unconscious by that point; I don't remember anything but pain after that. I could swear I was on fire, I felt like I was burning so. I heard a voice in my head, a terrible voice speaking terrible codes, combinations of simple binary and javascript, coding in all of the things that would make you different. I had a virus. How long I had been infected, I don't know. The voice ended, and I was awake. I was lying in a bed, dressed in a hospital gown. Princess Peach stood over me in a nurse's outfit-of course, Mario wouldn't have been overseeing something like this. She held out a little bundle. You. I took you in my arms, feeling the soft warmth of your newborn skin. You coo-ed in the sweet way that all babies do. I couldn't help but smile, despite the previous events. Princess Peach smiled as well, taking off her nurse's cap and letting her hair flow down.  
'She's different,' she said. 'I've never seen a baby like her. Maybe it's just the fact that she's a game crossover-' She was cut off by my glare. 'Ehehe, no offense, really, there's nothing wrong with having parents from two different games, but...look at her,' Peach gestured to the baby in my arms. At that moment, you opened your eyes, and I saw that they were...you know. Reptilian. Slit-pupils. I'm used to them now, and they express everything that you are, but then I was afraid. How far did this virus extend?  
'She has wings,' Peach said bluntly. 'It's not normal, I'm afraid, though you already knew that.'  
'I know it's not normal,' I replied. 'I heard a voice in my head while I was unconscious. It was speaking binary and java. It's a virus.'  
She gasped, suddenly fearful.  
'I have to tell the Surge Protector. I'll be back soon, don't move.' She sprinted out of the room, evidently afraid. I was afraid, too, but I wasn't about to show it in front of you. I had to see your wings, so I unwrapped the blanket that surrounded you. I admit, they were beautiful. Red, shiny, membranous, like a bat's but more...delicate. Tiny, lovely. I heard voices-real voices, this time from outside the door to the hospital room. It was Felix, talking to a nurse, and I heard her tell him he could come in. He did, his eyes red from tears that still lay wet on his cheeks. He had worried. I wish there had been a way to not tell him about the virus, but your wings were obviously abnormal. He sat, understanding, while I told him about the voice.  
'Dr. Mario said your heart stopped, once. I wanted to come, but they wouldn't let me,' he said, butting his hand on my shoulder.  
'I'm fine now,' I reassured him, reaching up to kiss his cheek. He blushed, a smile of relief spreading across his face.  
'You can go back to your game now, I guess.' His voice took on a despondent tone; he wanted me to stay with him for a while longer. I felt fine; I probably could go back to Hero's Duty, but we hadn't seen each other in a while-he was always busy after-hours keeping his game in order, fixing things and making sure there were no glitches. And there had been his game's forty-fifth anniversary party to attend to. Now he just wanted some time with me. And our new daughter. I would give it to him.  
'I'm still recovering,' I said, 'but I think I could manage staying at your game for a while.'  
The way he smiled, then, is one of many things that will live forever in my memory. And it's the last thing that I can remember without wishing with all my heart that I could forget.  
_

__**A/N: This chapter took a bit of thought. How would game characters deal with dual-game marriages and children? Where would the mothers go to give birth? I did add the non-arcade section of the Game Central Station, because without it I couldn't add Hyrule, Azeroth, or lots of other fantasy game settings like that. Yes, Azeroth will be one of the later settings in this fanfic, though I've never played WoW.  
The next chapter won't be out for a while, so for now I leave you readers with these words: LEEEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOY JEEEEEEEEEENKIIIIIINS!  
**


	3. Chapter 2: The Mistake

**A/N: Writing this while listening to Chacarron Macarron by El Mudo. Not good mood music, I'll tell you that. *turns on Doctor Who theme* That's better.**

Tamora shook her head. She sighed, and straightened. "I have to continue," she said. "I have to tell you. About the mistake we-I-made." Draconia nodded, knowing how much pain this was causing her mother yet not knowing how to tell her to stop. Tamora continued her recollections.  
_"The first two years of your life passed with barely anything exciting. Your two-year old self-oh, how sweet you were. You were mature for your age. You couldn't talk yet, but you were already tottering around on your little legs. Your father and I got used to your wings. Surge Protector had told us that the only way to rid you of the virus was to send you back to coding and do it all again. But your father and I loved you, and we wouldn't change you for the world. So we kept you. That was when Fix-it Felix Jr. was unplugged."_  
Draconia had never seen the game Fix-it Felix Jr. She had never really cared when she saw Wreck-it Ralph or the Nicelanders in Game Central Station, never really stopped to think when they got one look at her and glanced away or just turned around. It was just another old game to her then. Now...  
_"The game had rapidly lost players after its sudden popularity with the bonus level addition. When a careless teenager broke the joystick, that was the last straw. The out of order sign was on for only a few hours. I was in the middle of a game-you were with a sitter, I can't remember who she was-when I saw Litwak bend down and pull the plug. I had to stay strong until the game ended, though I was screaming inside. What if someone was left inside? What if...I couldn't focus on that while I was fighting Cy-bugs. When the game was over, my friend Tabitha-of course you know her, she subs for me when I can't run the game-came and sat next to me, in my spot in the corner._  
_'I heard,' she said. Two words that made me want to scream._  
_'You don't know what it's like, not knowing whether you're going to lose another loved one.' I buried my face in my hands, concealing teary eyes. She placed a hand on my shoulder, and I didn't shy away. I just let her sit there and comfort me until the arcade closed-we didn't have any other games after that; it was six o'clock on an off day. I rushed out into Game Central Station, and characters got out of my way as I ran toward what had been the Fix-it Felix Jr. tunnel. Now the sign above it was blank, the entrance covered in construction tape, and there was noone to be seen in it. I had looked for Felix and Ralph as I had run, but I couldn't see them. Characters passed by without so much as a blink, though I saw one-a princess whom I would get to know soon after-stop for a moment to look at the sad, empty tunnel. She turned around, saw me looking at the tunnel as well, and gave me a knowing look._  
_'You're Sgt. Calhoun, aren't you?' she asked. 'This game-it was your husband's, wasn't it?'_  
_I nodded solemnly, thinking that she must have at least some telepathic powers to know that. I'd never told anyone about Felix and my relationship._  
_'I can read minds. I just try not to; I don't want to intrude on anyone's secrets. I'm Zelda, by the way. I come from the game Twilight Princess. It's over in the non-arcade section, if you want to visit. Just past the cooking games, in the fantasy section.' She smiled slightly, her face taking on a slightly less dark look. Suddenly, a blue gleam flashed across her eyes, and she shook her head._  
_'I have to go now. There's trouble back at Hyrule. A dragon's been rampaging, and even Link's having trouble stopping it.' She turned around and began to walk away in fast, long strides._  
_'Wait!' I called after all. She looked back, and stopped. 'I can help you! I'll come to Hyrule tomorrow after the arcade closes. We can talk then?'_  
_She shook her head, and called back, 'We're a console game; we're not in an arcade! It doesn't matter when you come-find me at a game saved at the Goron Mines! You won't be disturbed then, if you come to the castle!' She looked back and resumed speedwalking toward Hyrule. It was then that I wondered what the hell I had gotten myself into. I didn't know-Felix didn't either-that this voluntary task would result in..." _Calhoun cringed, unable to finish her sentence. A single tear fell down her cheek.  
"You can stop. I think I know what you're saying." Draconia put her hand on her mother's shoulder. Calhoun just shook her head.  
"No-no. I have to...I was the only one who saw..."

**A/N: DA. DA. DAAAAAAAAAAAA. Just sayin'. For some strange reason, instead of continuing to listen to the epicness that is the Doctor Who theme, I decided to listen to Chacarron Macarron again. Ahh well. This story is really shaping up. It's going to be a part of a series, I'm sure of that. The current titles for the sequels are "Virus: Level Up" and "Virus: Continuum". **


End file.
